Frances Kelsey, a former medical officer at the FDA who blocked approval of a drug due to an incomplete application and as a result kept Thalidomide out of the U.S., has died at the age of 101.
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R.I.P. Frances Kelsey
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Thalidomide caused horrific birth defects and will never be prescribed to pregnant women again. It does have other uses that are being studied. There are many medicines that a pregnant woman should never take because they cause birth defects and yet are beneficial to non-pregnant women. It has the potential to boost immunity and treat many conditions including cancer, lupus, psoriasis.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double..._comeback.html
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Quoth wolfie View PostFrances Kelsey, a former medical officer at the FDA who blocked approval of a drug due to an incomplete application and as a result kept Thalidomide out of the U.S., has died at the age of 101.
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Quoth eltf177 View PostThank gord for that, I've seen the horrors of what that drug did in the UK.
I can't _BELIEVE_ there's talk of actually bringing it back!
One of the reasons it was so popular was that unlike other drugs for the same thing, you pretty much *couldn't* O D on it. At least not on any practical dosage. So it couldn't be used to commit suicide.
Even today, it'd likely have passed testing. Because they don't test drugs on pregnant women, much less ones with vitamin deficiencies.
Yeah, the situation was horrible. But it wasn't easily preventable, nor forseeable.
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